The present invention relates generally to fishing reels having a drag mechanism for providing resistance against pulling force on the fishing line such as when playing a fish. More specifically, the invention relates to a fishing reel having an adjustable drag mechanism which provides user-adjustable friction between component parts to vary the drag on line spool rotation in one direction.
Modern fishing equipment is designed to maximize play of the fish to tire the fish during its run after taking the hook. Once the fish has taken the line, it is desirable to use the fishing reel and rod play to tire the fish in the effort to land the fish without causing the fishing line or tackle to fail. With fly fishing equipment, particular emphasis is placed on lightweight fly line, flies and equipment while still providing sufficient equipment strength to maximize play. During its run, a large, powerful fish may cause line to run at extensive rates causing the line spool to rotate at excessive speed even under drag. Fish reels, therefore, must be designed to provide smooth and adjustable drag mechanisms to provide strong resistance to running line during play of an extremely powerful fish.
Prior art drag mechanisms for fly fishing reels are typically disadvantageous because they are heavy, and have many small and complex parts requiring high maintenance and frequent adjustment during wear. A drag mechanism is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,733,830, which discloses a drag differential mechanism with brake. The device teaches a cumbersome mechanical apparatus which has many parts and requires frequent adjustment. Other drag mechanisms use devices such as compressible disks or disk brake configurations to provide frictional resistance. These devices, when subject to long durations of use and wear, sometimes develop hard spots of uneven resistance caused by wear upon the frictional engagement surfaces thereby compromising the smoothness of the drag mechanism and cause vibration. Compromised friction in the drag mechanism can cause insufficient drag to stop the fish. Hard spots in the drag mechanism can create undesirable frequency vibration at the leader tippet, or squeaks in the drag mechanism. Additionally, many prior art drag mechanisms require close attention to manufacturing and fabrication tolerances to reduce production hard spots on the sometimes extremely small surface area of the frictional drag or brake surface area. Critical tolerances make the fishing reel extremely costly to produce.
Because of relatively small frictional surface areas in most fishing reel drag mechanisms, many reels lack the adequate drag resistance necessary to play extremely large and powerful fish. Larger reels must be employed to provide necessary drag strength. Larger reels, however, add unwanted weight. As a compromise, some fly reels are constructed to have exposed rims on the spool, sometimes called palming rings, to allow the user to provide rotational frictional between the line spool and the user's palm to increase drag when the mechanical drag mechanism in the reel itself is insufficient or not easily adjustable. These palming rings invite damage and corrosion because they extend outside the frame of the reel, and are therefore exposed to bending or denting when the reel is inadvertently dropped. Furthermore, fishing line can frequently be caught between the palming ring and the reel frame making the device difficult to operate. Palming rings also add undesired weight to the reel.
Therefore, there is a need for an efficient, light-weight and simple drag mechanism which provides the strong, yet easily adjustable, frictional drag necessary to play extremely large and powerful fish without increasing equipment weight, maintenance or complexity.